


All The Languages They Don't Need

by CloakedSparrow



Series: Marvel Ficlets & Headcanons Collection [13]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Captain America: The First Avenger, Gen, Hydra, Jewish Bucky Barnes, Language Skills, No Dialogue, No Romance, No Sex, PoW, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 18:58:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11042286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloakedSparrow/pseuds/CloakedSparrow
Summary: Steve and Bucky are fluent in over fifteen languages between them. They rarely need them, however.





	All The Languages They Don't Need

Steve and Bucky were nearly always together as children and assumed they would always have each other nearby. Rather than sign up for the same electives as most other best friends do, they decided to sign up for different language classes. They figured if they were always together, then one could always translate for the other. 

So Steve took French and Bucky took German. Both learned quickly, but Steve had to admit Bucky picked up the accent quicker. Bucky said it was only because of Steve's 'bad ear'. 

They each taught each other enough of the language they were studying to be sufficient, but neither ever bothered becoming fluent in the ‘others’ language. 

They never told Dernier and Jones that they knew what they were saying when they broke into French.

Steve can read Latin and Bucky is fluent in Hebrew. They learned these from their mothers and Sunday School/Hebrew School teachers.

Eventually, Steve also learned Mandarin, Portuguese and Arabic while Bucky learned Cantonese, Japanese and Spanish. Sometimes they learned from books, other times they picked it up from a co-worker or neighbour. They both picked up Italian during the war. Falsworth commented that he was impressed by how quickly they both learned. 

After returning from his second stint as a Hydra POW, Bucky has proven to know Russian, Romanian, Hindi and ISL but he doesn’t recall learning any them. He doesn't know if there are any more languages floating around in his head either. He didn't know he was fluent in any of the others until he heard or saw someone use them. Sometimes Tony asks Jarvis to speak in another random language when Bucky comes over just to see if he understands it. That's how they discovered he knows Hindi. 

Steve and Bucky both started learning ASL for Clint’s benefit after they discovered he was hearing impaired. They both remember how difficult it was for Steve sometimes, back when he had hearing difficulties. At that time, learning ASL was more difficult. Its much easier to pick it up from online videos than from books. 

Rhodey once suggested that they could use their language skills on missions. Switching languages every few sentences or words would make it more difficult for anyone else listening in to get the information. They rarely do that, though. They have their own language for that; codes and references from a lifetime together before most of the people they encounter were ever alive. Half of the time what they say doesn't make sense to anyone but the other and they rarely bother to supply context.


End file.
